The Health Ministry has signed an MoU with UWI and UNICEF to establish a Mental Health Chatline.

According to the Ministry, Latin America and the Caribbean rank among the top five regions globally that are experiencing worsening mental health conditions, with young persons particularly impacted.

The Mental Health Chatline will provide accessible and effective remote mental health services tailored specifically for adolescents and youth.

It is intended to provide accessible text-based support, referrals and information on mental health resources and services, and will be manned by volunteers, specially trained by UWI’s Department of Behavioural Studies.

The initiative is a collaboration of the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, The UWI Mona’s Caribbean Child Development Centre and The UWI St. Augustine Department of Behavioural Sciences.

According to the Ministry, the hope is that the chatline will mitigate the effect of risk factors related to stress, high levels of violence, suicide and drug abuse among others.

This launch follows three Mental Health Chatline Training Workshops, held during the periods June 3-7 and July 9-11 2024, at The UWI St Augustine Campus.

The in-person training took place over three days and was followed by three weeks of intense supervision and skill-building.

A total of 67 students and graduates from the Department of Behavioural Science participated in the training and will serve as volunteers for the chatline.